Automatic valve for gas-fixtures.



A. E. HIERTZ.

AUTOMATIC VALVE FOR GAS FIXTURES. 'APPLICATION FILED `11111.31, 1914.

1, 1 04, 1 1 f3,A Patented July 21, 1914.

ARTHUR E. -IIERTZ, OF BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT.

AUTOMATIC VALVE FOR GAS-FIXTURES.

incerte..

Specification of Letters Patent. A Patented illy 21, 1914i.

Application ledJanuary 31, 1914.` Serial No. 815,691.

To czZZ whom t may concern Be it known that I, ARTHUR E.

vide an automatic or self-closing valve especially adapted for,l use in,connection with coinscontrolled meters, which will act"v 4toshut oifthegas when the pressure fallsf below a predetermined minimum andretain; it shut ott' untilV the kvalve is opened man- -l ually.

4use of Coinrontrolled meters lt. is of course well understood that `theserious loss of life resulting from the@ has beenA caused by the gas nothaving been shut oil at jets and chandeliers afterthe meter hadautomaticallyT shut oft' the supply, so,`

that when gas was again supplied to thek service pipes it was permitted'tov escape freely into the room. This serious condition is whollyprevented by my novel valve, as where chandeliers and jets are provided;

with my novel valves the escape of gasis rendered impossible even if thejets are left open and the gas is'turned on after having been shut offby the meter, and gas Vcan' only pass to the chandelier `orjet after'thevalve has been manually opened'.v l

lilith the aboveand other objects in/view lfhave' devised the novel"automatic gas valve which I will now describe referring to the'accompanying' drawing forming a part of this specification and usingreference characters to indicate the several parts.

Figure l is a face viewrof my novel valve in the open position, aportion of the case being removed; Fig. 2 a section on the line 2-2 inFig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows, and Fig. 3 is a sectionon the line 3 3 in Fig. l, looking in the direction of the arrows.

10 denotes a case whichl may be of any convenient construction andconfiguration, 11 aconnection to a supply pipe, 12 a. connection to aservice pipe, 13 the body of the valve, 14 the plug and l5 the shank.These parts may be of any ordinary or preferred construction.

In the drawing l have illustrated the ordinary simple form ofstraightway valve or cock.

1G denotes a coil spring, the inner end of itl'le f i which is attachedto theshank and the outer l-IIERTZ, av citizen of the United States,residingat Bridgeport, county of Fairfield, State of; 'Connecticut ehaveinvented.A an Vimprove-t ment in Automatic Valves for Gras-Fix-4 tures,of which the followingis a specificaytion.

rThis invention has for its object to pro- 1S through the plug out ofalinement with lthe alined passages 19 in the body. 2() denotes a diskcarried by the shank which'isprovided inits face with a groove 21,preferably made V-shape, and in its periphery with stop Vshoulders 22and 23, either y .v

of which is adapted to engage a stop 24 secured to the f'vcase. Theengagement' of shoulder 22 witlithestop acts to'limit the rrotationofthe disk, shank and plugin the opening movementV and stop said partswith the yvalve in the fully opened position, as in drawing, and the`engagement yof shoulder 23 with the stop limitsthe rotation ofthe disk,shank and plug when said parts are rotated by the springv to shut olfythe flow y l of gas. The groove in the disk is engaged by one-arm(preferably madeV-shape to correspond with thegroove) of an angle lever"25 which is pivoted to a bracket 26 secured to the` case. The valve isretained inthe open position while the gas supply is on by means of along lever27 which engages the angle lever and retains one'V arm thereofin engagement with the groove in the face of the disk, as in Fig. 1.Lever 27 is shown as piv/otedfat the upper end vofthe case and isprovided with -an inward v"offset 28 which carries a plate 29 lying Vinlclose engagement with a flattened gas bag30. One

end of the gas `bag is connected asqat 31 to connection 11 leading tothesupply pipe and the other end of said bag-is-connected "as at 32 to thebody of the valve. The side of the .that side of the valve relativelynonflexible.v

34 denotes pins extending from a .bracket and lying on opposite sides oflever 27 which serve as guides or supports therefor.

As a means for openingy the valve manually after it hasfbeenautomatically closed, and gas is again supplied, the shank may beextended through'the case. In the present instance I have shown a shortshaft 35 journaled in the case and provided at its outer end with a handwheel 36 and at its inner end with a disk 37 having lugs 38 which engagerecesses 39 in a disk 40 carried by the shank. .y

The-operation is as follows: Suppose the .operator releases the handwheel. Should the gas be turned on, however, the bag will be distendedand will force lever 27 outward to the full line position in Fig. 1.Should the hand wheel now be manipulated, and the parts turned to theposition shown in the drawing, the pressure of the gas in the bag onlever 27 will cause said lever to swing the angle lever and place the V-shaped arm Vof the angle lever `in engagement with the groove in theface of disk 20 and so long as the gas pressure remains on, the partswill be locked in this position and the shank cannot be manipulated bymeans of the hand wheel. Should the gas supply be shut off, however, thebag will collapse, the pressure upon lever Q7 will be relieved and thepower of the spring acting upon the shank and disk 2() will disengagethe disk from the angle lever and rotate the shank and plug to theclosing position, in which position they will remain until a freshsupply of gas is turned on to distend the gas bag, and the shank andplug are manually operated to open the valve. i

Having thus described my invention l claim l. ln an apparatus of thecharacter described, the combination with a rotary valve, of a shaftconnected with the valve to turn the same, a disk mounted upon the shaftto turn therewith and provided upon one face with a groove, a coilspring surrounding the shaft, disposed upon one side of the disk andsecured to the shaft to turn the same to b-ring the valve to its closedposition, manually operated means to turn the shaft to bring the valveto its open position, a pivoted lever arranged near the disk and havinga portion adapted to enter the face groove of the disk, a gas conduithaving a flexible portion, and a pivoted lever having a portion thereofengaging the Hexible portion of the gas conduit and its lower endarranged to engage the free end of the rstnamed lever.

2. In apparatus of the character described, the combination with arotary valve, of a shaft connected with the valve to turn the same, aspring to turn the shaft to bring the valve to the closed position, adisk mounted upon the shaft to turn therewith and provided upon itsouter face with a groove V-shaped in cross section, a pivoted bell-cranklever arranged near the disk and having one arm provided with a portionV- shaped in cross-section to enter lthe il-shaped face groove of thedisk, a gas conduit havone end with a portion engaging the flexibleportion of the gas conduit and its free end engaging the free end ofthebell-crank lever.

ing a flexible portion, and a lever pivoted at i 8. ln apparatus of thecharacter described, i i the combination with a horizontal rotary 7 5valve, of a sh aft to turn the valve, a spring connected with the shaftto turn it to bring the valve to the closed position, a disl'lyx mountedupon the shaft to turn therewith and provided upon its face with a'radial groove and upon its periphery withl spaced sto )shoulders an u)standing sto dis iosed near the disk to engage the shoulders topositively limit the movement of the disk in both directions, manuallyoperated means to turn the shaft, a pivoted lever arranged near the diskand adapted to have a portion thereof moved into the face groove of thedisk, an upstanding gas conduit having a flexible portion, and anupstanding lever pivoted at its upper end, with a portion thereofengaging the flexible portion of the gas-conduit, and its lower endengaging the bell-crank lever.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ARTHUR E. HERTZ. Witnesses:

ll. TW. MEADE,

ROBERT G. BOOTH.

copies of this patent may be obtained. for five cents each, byaddressing the Commissioner or Patents. Washington, D. G.

